When people make their purchasing decisions, they want some information to base their decision on. They want tips on shopping in the industry. They want all the applicable “How To” articles they can get their hands on. They want to know what you (the authority) knows.

That’s how the phrase “Content is king” came to be. But in a world where content is king, ideas are the currency we trade in.

It’s been established that you need a blog to fill these content demands. But how do you come up with the ideas to consistently fill it, especially when you need to be providing valuable content?

Talk With Your Customers

What questions have they routinely asked you about your industry? What are the nuggets of information that people really want to know? If people are asking you about these things, chances are they’re probably searching for them as well, and your audience is built in.

Keep a running list of questions, and answer them on a regular basis. It’s a good way to ensure that you are adding value for your customers.

Read Books On Headlines

Two really good places to get started are Jon Morrow’s Headline Hacks and David Garfinkel’s Advertising Headlines That Make You Rich. Both books are filled with headlines that have worked wonders in the past. They provide an open invite for you to adopt them to your business.

These headlines will also stir up ideas you never knew you had. They serve as solid writing prompts designed to attract more readers.

Find Your Keywords

The Google Adwords keyword tool can work wonders for your business. Type in a keyword, and you’ll get a pile of suggestions. Often times those suggestions can help spark blog ideas.

The tool also gives you the added information of how many people are searching for it online. If you take the time to write a post revolving around that keyword, you may see the added benefit of some search traffic.

Mind Map It

A mind map is a great tool to see if there are unexplored angles off an existing blog post. Maybe you can expand on the angle you took on an industry news piece. Or maybe there are 10 more ideas you had for a list post that you weren’t thinking about before.

Conclusion

The constant pressure to produce valuable blog content can lead to a dip in creativity. Hopefully these idea generators can spark some creativity.

What works for you? Do you have surefire ways to generate blog ideas that have worked in the past? Tell me about them in the comments.

I agree with Ram about talking to the customer. I personally think its a no brainer but not many bloggers think about it as they feel shy or feel as though they are applying pressure to their audience for feedback.

I’ve also tried mind mapping blog posts in the past but my best ones come to me naturally because its something I truly believe in whereas I have mind maps stored in case I need some inspiration.

I have only been blogging since Nov. of 2012, I ask my followers often if there is something they would like to see more of. I never seem to get an answer. I just write from the heart and hope it leads to more traffic on my page. I always use tag words that I hope people are searching for on google. Example, I wrote about Autism Awareness and my tag words were Autism and Awareness. In hopes that it would bring people searching today on Autism Awareness day to my blog. I still have a long way to go and am always open for new idea’s. I know one day I will have more traffic and interaction. Like they say slow and steady wins the race. Thanks for your post about filling your blog with valuable content.

I think it’s very important to Find Your Keywords. I would say, it’s half of the work. Yes, it’s great to talk with the customers but for the new business it may be will not work.
And another thing I would like to add to this useful article: Be creative!

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What a great article. Thank you. I am going to start a blog primarily to help with traffic and seo. My problem is that our business is pretty simple and it is hard to think of many articles of interest that I can write about. Also, my written grammar isn’t very good and I need to be able to write at the level of this blog!!
Any tips anybody?